Carl d



C. D. TURNER.

ELECTRIC BRANDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6, IBIB- RENEWED APR. 25, I919.

Patented Dec. 2,1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL D. TURNER, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

ELECTRIC BRANDING DEVICE.

Application filed March 6, 1918, Serial No. 220,778.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL D. TURNER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Indianapolis, Marion county, and State of Indiana, haveinvented and discovered certain new and useful Improvements in ElectricBranding Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric branding devices and the objectsthereof are to provide means to obtain a clean cut reproduction of thecharacters without blurring or scorching of the surfaces surrounding theimpression of the characters; to obtain a high thermal efficiency in themember or members forming the characters; to increase the rapidity ofthe heating action required to effect the branding; to preventunnecessary energy consumption and unnecessary deterioration of theconductive material of' the tool; to provide a device of minimum sizerelative. to capacity, and capable of belng readily carried from placeto place and conveniently handled in the branding operation; to providemeans whereby not only the temperature in the character members to beheated may be readily controlled, but also the temperature of eachseparate character member may be locally and separately predetermined,and to generally improve the construction and facility of operation of adevice of, this class.

With these objects in view my inventlon is embodied in preferable formin the construction, arrangement and combinatlons hereinafter set forthand illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings, Figure 1 1s a plan view I of the face of the die ofthe tool; Fig. 2,

the characters are to be reproduced giving a.

blurred impression. Those constructions also result in unnecessary lossof thermal efliciency and a great loss of time in heating the body ofthe character carrying plate. Also, in these constructions in which thisplate is electrically connected in the circuit, and forms in itself oneof the resistance Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

Renewed April 25, 1919 Serial No. 292,694.

elements, not only does the loss of thermal efficiency referred toexist, but there is also an additional unnecessary consumption ofcurrent and a. great loss of time in bringing the entire body of theplate to the necessary temperature to effect the branding operation.

In my invention, the body of metal constituting the character membersthemselves forms the only effective heating element and the onlyresistance element of the device, and those portions of this body inwhich the character members are defined are separated from one anotherby heat insulating, heat reslstmg and electrical insulating material,and hence the entire effective thermal value of the current is imposeddirectly and entlrely upon such character members, whereby not only isthe heat contact surface localized to the character members, but alsoloss of energy avoided, and the temperature necessary to effect thebranding obtained with- 1n a few seconds after the establishment of thecircuit. This dominant idea of the invention may perhaps be embodied invarious forms. A practicable and successful embodiment of the inventionhas been found to comprise character members constituting reslstanceelements and electrically connected with connector elements ofrelatively low electrical resistance compared to the character elements,and a non-conducting, heat insulating and heat resisting elementlnterposed between the effective surfaces of the character members andthe points of electrical connection of the connector elements with theterminals joining the wires leading to the source of electrical energy,

these character members and conductor elements being preferably ofhomogeneous ma terial, the relatively high and low resistance capacityof the characters and the connectors being preferably obtained by makingthe latter of relatively greater cross sectional area and largerradiating surface, S0 as to thereby produce a high temperature in thecharacter members only. To construct such an arrangement with the metalsor compounds usually employed in electrically heated devices isdifficult and possibly impossible owing to the rapid oxidation of suchmetals due to the high temperature, to

the variations in temperature between the character members andconnectors, and also to contact corroslon between such members.

I have discovered that" such construction may be successfully made bythe employment for the body of the character members, and alsopreferably for the connectors of a metal alloy of high specificresistance, high melting point and great resistance to oxidation. Thepreferred alloy, and one which has been found suitable for effectingthis function is one of nickel and chromium. Or homologous alloyspossessing the above properties may also be employed. This materialshould also possess the capacities of being drawn into wire or ribbonsand of being formed therefrom into desired shapes for the charactermembers.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a brandingdevice embodying the iINeIltlOll, 1 indicates a block of suitable heatinsulating, heat resisting and electrically non-conductive materialwhich may be asbestos or a composition thereof. This block may be of athickness propor tionate to the area thereof to obtain the re quiredstrength and rigidity according to the purpose for which it is to beused, and the number of characters it may be requlre d to hear. Thecharacter members 2 ane formed of drawn wire or ribbons of nlckelchromium alloy and they project from the front die face of the block asseen in Figs. 1 and 3, and are separated from one another by theadjacent surface of the block which thus serves to prevent conduction ofheat between the several character members. The stems 3 of these membersextend through the block and on the rear face of the latter joinconnector members 4 consisting preferably of flat ribbons or strips, onein number for each character member, each character member, however,being connected to two adJacent connector members so that all of saidmembers are connected electrically in series. These stems may beconsidered structurally and electrically as parts of the charactermembers. The end connector members of the series carry the metal contactposts or plugs 5 adapted to receive detachable spring socket connectingmembers 6 which'may be connected by wire to any suitable source ofelectrical energy.

The connector members l are welded to the character members and arecomposed of material homogeneous therewith, preferably of nickelchromium alloy. The ribbons or plates of which these connector membersare formed are of a thickness at least equal to the thickness of thecharacter members and their area is very much greater than that of thelatter thus giving a relatively great cross sectional area comparedthereto. This relation may be and preferably is as great as ten to one,and is such that the resistance of the connector relatively to that ofthe character members is inappreciable electrically, and hence the hightemperature will be confined to the character members and thetemperature will also be prevented from rising in the connectors, owingto the extensive radiating surface thereof obtained by their flat ribbonlike formation.

In the use of the device, it may be provided with flexible terminalcords carrying socket plugs, and may be carried by hand from place toplace and connected to a junction with any suitable source of electricalenergy, and may be conveniently handled in applying it to the object tobe branded.

Owing to the fact that the heat is confined to the projecting charactermembers, and the surrounding surface of the supporting element,consisting of the asbestos block is relatively cOld, only clean cut workwithout scorched or blurred surfaces between the characters, will beproduced. Due to this confinement 0f the heat to the small surfaces ofthe character members, only very little heat is lost by radiation andhence a high thermal efliciency is obtained, as compared with thepresent prevailing types of brands, in which the die plate andconnecting members also receive and radiate heat created by the passageof the current. This construction obtains the further advantage ofavoiding loss due to energy consumption while waiting for the device toreach the working temperature, and also the loss now occa sioned whenthe device is used only intermittently but the current is maintained contmuously in order to avoid loss of time in raising the temperature ofthe tool to the required point.

The tool is particularly advantageous for work to be performed on shortnotice and where frequent changes from brands bearing differentcharacters are to be used, since the temperature of the charactermembers can be instantly raised to branding heat when the circuit isclosed.

The device also permits of close control of temperature both generallyby regulating the circuit. and locally, in respect to any one charactermember, by means of defining the size, form and radiating surface of theconnector attached to that character member the temperature of which isto be varied from that of the other character.

The nickel chromium alloy employed provides character members of suchhigh specific electric resistance as to obtain the required hightemperature, and also prevents oxidation of these members and theconncctors and together with the manner of construction pre 'entscontact corrosion at the points of junction, which are functions notcapable of accomplishment with the usual metals and constructionemployed in branding tools. Such metal alloy also is of particularfunctional advantage in devices of this character owing to the fact thatit retains very high tensile strength and connected with each end of thecharacter stiffness even at 1000 (J. or 110.0 C. which are thetemperatures necessary in the branding operation.

Owing to the fact that the impression die element is defined merely inthe narrow characters of the brand and the cross sectional area thereofis very smallrelative to the current necessary to produce the heatingtemperature, it is subject to such a high temperature as would tend toproduce oxidation, which effect ,however is eliminated by the use-of thenickel chrome alloy, and therefore this. alloy is of particular cooperation in function with the particular formation, of the die element asdefined. Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. Anelectric branding device having main conducting wires, a characterelement in the heating. circuit, terminal elements element and withthemain conducting tively varying I proportions connected together-byconnector elements, which are also-- of relatively varying proportions,and con nected .in the circmt with said main' conducting wires,substantially asset forth.

3. An .electric branding device having the heat applying member thereofdefined in the form of the characters-of the brand, a heat confiningconnector element directly welded thereto and heat insulatedtherefrom,and;

of a greater cross sectional area and-greater radiating surfacerelatively to the heat ap plying member. 7 I

4. An electric branding device having the heat. applying element thereofdefined in characters of narrow strip like formation,

anda heat confining connector element of relatively greater crosssectional area and offiat. ribbon like form directly welded to the heatapplying elementand heat insulated therefrom..

'5. An electric branding device having the heat applying element thereofformed solely of a body defined inthe brand,said body being of a metalof high electrical resist ance, and a heat confining connector elementinterposed between the terminals leading to the source. ofelectricityand said body, said connector element being of relatively smallresistance compared to the said body and-be;

Witnesses:

ing of homogeneous material therewith and heat applying element thereofformed solely of a body'defined in the characters of the brand, saidbodybeing of a metal of highelectrical resistance, and-heat'confiningconnector elements interposed between the parts of the body formingadjacent characters, and also the complete body and the terminalsleading to the source of electricity, said connector elements being ofrelatively small resistance compared to said body and of homogeneousmaterialv therewith and directly welded thereto. v

7. An electric branding device having the heat applying elementthereofconsisting solely of a bodyof metal, defined in the characters ofthe brand and having a high specific electrical resistance, high meltingpoint and great-resistance to oxidation and a connector element ofhomogeneous material welded to said heat applying element and of[relatively reat cross sectlonal area and radiating sur ace.

8, An electric branding device having the heat'applying member definedsolely in the characters of the brand and constituting a resistanceelement in the circuit and composed of nickel chromium alloy and aconnector element of the same alloy Welded to said character member,said character and connector elements being of relatively very high andlow resistances and small and large radiating surfaces respectively.

9. In an electrlc branding device, in com' bination with a heat applyingmember, a

connector member and a supporting block for said members of electricalnon-conducting, heat non-conducting and heat.insulat-- the connectorelement being of flat, ribbon like formation and mounted on theoppositeface of the block, the heat applying element being of very greatresistance and small radiating surface relatively to the connectorelement. i

In witness. whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal atIndianapolis this 7th da of January, A.-D. nin eteen hundred and eigteen. L P

CARL D. TURNER. [1..s.]

-H. P. Doonrrrnr,- L. SHULER.

